Get Your Programs Here

Could someone explain to me why we need programs to get people in the church door? Sure, be welcoming (nobody likes an unfriendly bunch). Sure, invite the community in. Why, however, does the church need to market itself like another commodity supplier? Why does it have to have community open house events just to make its presence known?
Maybe I’m being too harshly critical at worst, or idealistic at best. In a theoretical world, people would show up at our churches seeking pure doctrine and Christ crucified. That is not reality, of course. I’d say that we Lutherans have a pretty good thing going here. Too bad that stuff called original sin has to muck it all up.
It just appears that we seem to be missing the point. It’s not about numbers—either in the pews or in the plates. Okay, reality check again. Without numbers in the pews or in the plates one cannot sustain. On the other hand, whose job is it to grow the church? That’s a rhetorical question, in case you’re wondering. You know the answer is not people.
Okay, I can hear it now: “What about the great commission?” Sure, but one has to remember--going and making disciples isn’t like going and making a bird house. Yep, here’s your disciple; let me make another for you. A pastor who is much smarter than I explained it to me once: Making disciples is actually a verb. Go and disciple (discipling, discipled, had discipled, if you want to conjugate it). It’s a process that is continual. How? Word and Sacrament. Catechesis. It is the cooperation of the laity and the pastors. The laity have the workaday world contact with people. They are the ones who can initiate the connection. That should be the contact to get them in the door. Then the pastor can do his job.
Programs and bait-and-switch tactics cannot sustain a congregation. If a person is looking for single parent support groups, pick-up basketball games, and community dinners; let me direct you to the community center down the road. I won’t go to them looking for forgiveness; why should they look to me for a synchronized swimming program?

Election Day

In another few hours, Election Day will be behind us. As of this writing, some polls are closed. Returns are coming in, and my husband has taken up his chair to settle in with Brit Hume and Fox News for the duration. I am in the other room, hoping that the candidate for whom I voted wins.
There are many things about this election I have not liked. I have not liked the duration. When did these guys announce that they were running for president? Was it 2004? I have not liked the rancor and insinuations. I have not liked the way age/gender/race played into how people viewed the candidates. May the most qualified be elected--I don't care if you're a purple female or a green male--the constitution does state you have to be over 35, but I can live with that age issue.
The economy became a huge issue as of late. I still don't see that trumping things like national security and right to life. I've said it before; a government that does not care about life does not honestly care about its people.
This is where it is difficult to have dual citizenship. I know that no matter what happens today, God knows what will happen to His people, and He will work all things together for our good, as St. Paul says in Romans 8. It is still human to be concerned with what happens in America with a presidential change. It is becoming increasingly difficult to be a Christian in America. No, we don't have to worship underground or risk imprisonment for praying; yet, it is becoming harder to stand for truth, justice, and mercy in a society which creates its own truth, defines justice as finding the right loophole, and mercy is for those who want it, not those who need it. (Since when did pity trump empathy?)
Well, until they haul us all off to jail or the looney bin (because they've re-defined lunacy as someone who disagrees with them), I guess what we have to do is live our vocation and be salt and light and stand for the truth and pray for our leaders. They've got a tough job ahead of them, no matter who they are. And Christ died for them too--that we dare not forget. . .

Vocation

I've been thinking much about vocation lately. I am having trouble putting into words what I continue to ponder. (Maybe this is why I can never get published--whoever heard of a writer that has trouble putting thoughts into words being successful?)
One thought that I come back to is why can't we as Christians just live our lives as Christians? I mean, overarching all, I am a Christian. Then I am whatever I am--parent, spouse, child, employee, teacher, student--and I am the best whatever I am living my life in Christ.
It seems to me that one does not have to be a "Bible thumper" on a street corner or an activist of a sort to be a solid witness of Christ to the world. We are to be light, reflecting Christ to the world. What kind of lamp sets the house ablaze with its light? That lamp would be called a defective fire hazard. We are to be salt, seasoning the world. What kind of salt is tolerated in heavy amounts? Sure, we can't hide our light under a basket, which is pointless; or leave our saltiness in the cupboard claiming a low-sodium diet. We need to be in the world sharing the Gospel of Jesus with those around us. Still I ask, do we need to do it in such a pushy, patronizing manner? It seems to me that I'd rather have a person see Christ in all I say and do by my saying and doing everything through Christ in my vocation rather than trying to convince them by my words only. (See what I mean about the putting into words?)
Maybe I should ponder more.

Vocation

I attended a presentation recently on art and architecture in the church. The presenter asserted (quite forcefully, if I may add the editorial comment) that there should be no differentiation between nave and chancel, not even a step or communion rail. He also asserted that there should be only one place from which the Word should be read and proclaimed—the pulpit, no lecturn—for expounding upon scripture is not above the reading of scripture itself. He then continued by saying that it was acceptable for the lector to read the scripture from the pulpit, for to not allow a layperson in the pulpit would indicate a class distinction between lay and clergy (the main reason for having no differentiation between nave and chancel in the first place). This got me thinking about the priesthood of all believers and vocation, and how it can still be taken wrongly today.
In the Middle Ages, the church taught that being a member of the clergy or a monk or nun were the highest calling a Christian could become. Martin Luther argued that all Christians have a vocation—a God-given “calling” –to be whatever they were: butcher, baker, candlestick maker, mom, child, student, etc. With this line of reasoning came the concept that we are all priests.
Today there is the misunderstanding that because we all have a vocation and none is higher than another; that means that a pastor is equal to his parishioners. A layperson is no more, no less than a pastor, even in the chancel or pulpit. I am inclined to disagree.
The teacher in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory said, “For a student to teach his teacher is presumptuous and rude.” The commercials which say, “Ask your doctor about [this medicine],” rub me the wrong way. In our vocations we live our vocations and do not presume to do someone else’s vocation. I do not like it when non-teachers tell me what to teach and how to teach it. I am not a doctor, so I am not going to presume to tell my doctor that I need a particular medication just because it is advertised on television. I am not a pastor (obviously) so I will not presume to do my pastor’s job, namely Word and Sacrament ministry. After all, I’m not the one with the M.Div. In this case, there is a distinction between vocations. The distinction is to what one is called. There comes a point where our pastors need to step up to minister, and the people need to step back and allow themselves to be ministered. This is order; for if there is no order, there is chaos, and chaos unchecked can lead to anarchy.

Prepare to Commence

I attended the seminary's commencement last night. It was a lovely evening, minus a few mosquitoes. {Warning: Old curmudgeon griping ahead} I didn't, however, like too much the whooping and hollering for graduates as their name was read. A cheer here or there for a job well done will suffice, but please, people, this is an institution of highest learning for our church, not a racuous party high school. A little decorum is called for! {End Old curmedgeon griping}
That's not the point I'd like to point out here, though. I would like to offer a rebuttal to the commencement speaker. Okay, not a rebuttal so much as a commentary on the commentator. He was not the most dynamic person I'd ever heard, but he does the buisness and stock report on the radio. . .
All kidding aside, he had a message plain and simple. All pastoral types should take note and learn. You are the pastor. You have the knowledge. Your people are the people on the front lines of the workaday world. Teach them. Teach them well. If they don't learn from you, they'll learn from somewhere else; however, that somewhere else may not be true, right, or good.
It all comes down to this: We have our vocations, and we need to do them. Pastors, please help us do our vocation by doing your own.